The system of incentives is all screwed up. The glut of postdocs is a boon for everyone involved, except the postdocs themselves.
Postdocs are very highly qualified and underpaid scientists, who can on a project without almost any supervision, and who are very motivated so will work really hard with little pay. For a group leader, it's a no brainer to hire as many of them as he can.
Imagine how much the cost of science would increase if instead of being able to hire 3 or 4 postdocs at 50k each, you actually had to hire someone with a similar skillset at market pay.
Postdocs are very highly qualified and underpaid scientists, who can on a project without almost any supervision, and who are very motivated so will work really hard with little pay. For a group leader, it's a no brainer to hire as many of them as he can.
Imagine how much the cost of science would increase if instead of being able to hire 3 or 4 postdocs at 50k each, you actually had to hire someone with a similar skillset at market pay.